Benjamin Schweitzer was born in Marburg on the Lahn in Juli 1973. After attracting attention as a composer very early, his works have been performed in Germany and abroad (e.g. Finland, USA, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France, Sweden), recorded on CD and broadcast on the radio since 1991. Schweitzer has received commissions from the Siemens Arts Program, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Hellerau and renowned interpreters and ensembles, among others. Since its foundation (1997) until 2005 he was artistic director of the 'ensemble courage' in Dresden which received an encouragement award of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation (2001), among others.

Apart from occasional appearances as a concert pianist and conductor, mainly in the field of contemporary music, he has been increasingly active in the fields of analysis and musicology in the past years, holding teaching posts at the Technical University and the Academy of Music in Dresden, giving regular lectures at home and abroad, and publishing musicological essays in well-known journals. In August/September 2001 he was invited for a working stay at the artists' residence in Stein am Rhein (Switzerland) and was asked to lecture at the 37. Deutscher Kammermusikkurs des Deutschen Musikrats in Trossingen. In 2002 he was awarded a working scholarship by the Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen, was appointed to the academy of 'Choreographers and Composers' at the Berlin Acadmey of Arts and taught at the Academy of Comtemporary Chamber Music 2003 of Jeunesse Moderne in the summer of the following year.

Benjamin Schweitzer has received numerous scholarships, prizes and awards, including the encouragement award of the Sächsischer Musikbund 1999, a working stay at the artists' residence in Stein am Rhein/Switzerland (2001), as well as a working scholarship of the Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen (2002). From November 2004 to April 2005 he lived and worked at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris on a scholarship of the Saxon Ministry of Science and the Fine Arts.

Recently, Schweitzer has won a scholarship for a stay at the German Study Centre in Venice. The two-month stay for which Schweitzer was chosen by the jury of the Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affiairs took place in September and October 2007. Since November 2007 he is spending a six-month-residency at the „Kunstlerhof Schreyahn“ supported by a scholarship of the State of Lower Saxony.

Please visit Benjamin Schweitzer's Homepage www.benjamin-schweitzer.de.